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Wayne D! Apologies if this email gets long. Tee to green I haven’t played with anyone all year who has hit it as good as me. My ball striking has become really really good. Longer on the driver, excellent with the irons and really precise with my short irons. My pitching from 40-70 are solid and my bunker game is pretty good too. I’ve been working with a putting specialist Bill Smittle and my putting has become really solid. What’s been really holding me back is my chipping and pitching from 30 and in. Mostly from 10-15 and in from the tight stuff to tight pins. When I watch the pros hit this shot it looks so effortless. I’ve tried a million techniques and have fallen into the using the bounce trap. We’ve talked about this before and I do like the Spieth method of playing these shots. I carry 50, 54, 58 and generally play these shots with my 54 or 58. My main question is how do you think I should be playing these shots? With my full swing being so good I would think that this should be easier than I am making it. Am I trying to forward lean the shaft and hit it low? If I wanted to hit it high would I just open the face and apply the same technique? I’ll send you a bunch of videos and let me know what you think? I think it gets a little flippy and the follow through gets long. My miss is thin not fat. Shot 79/75 NYC am both rounds could have easily been in the 60’s. If I can sort this shot out I am very confident I can start winning. Thanks, as always. You have transformed my golf swing!!!!
In the video I look at the short shots John sent me from his basement and offer analysis of each one. My general idea on short pitching is to make it as much of a miniature version of the full iron swing as possible, given that there are significant set up changes. I always want players of any level to master the forward leaning pitch for the best contact before trying to use the bounce. It is surprising how high you can hit a short shot with the face open and the ball forward while still trying to drive it forward and the intent to hit the ball low. I find that this concept leads to more consistent contact. Hitting shots around the green with less forward lean is surprisingly more difficult, given that the attempt is to slide the club more under the ball with the shaft less forward leaned, which I do by taking more of the wrist cock out of the backswing. This type of action is much more prone to “flipping”, or “scooping”, where the lower part of the right hand pushes the club into impact, causing the left wrist to break down. Forward leaning a pitch shot still requires good sequence, as the arms are being dragged by the body and the clubhead is lagging and being pulled through the shot by the pivot. In John’s case I see that his posture is nowhere near as good as it is in his full swing, and I can tell by his footwork that he is not sequencing correctly and using enough weight transfer to achieve a flat left wrist and a bent right wrist at impact.
Here is an update John just sent via text:
“If you were here I’d give you a bear hug!!! Just did what you said and It’s 1000% better. My set up was totally off. And my weight was not moving left. I am so happy.”
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